Why Wall Street Is Bidding-up Petrobras Stock.

SEEKING ALPHA/
"...Petrobras has grown total production roughly 5.6 percent annually since 2001. Management expects annualized growth to reach 8.8 percent through 2013 and 7.5 percent from 2013 to 2020.
If Brazil meets its goal of producing a total of 5.729 million barrels of oil per day, its oil production will be more than double current levels. To put this into perspective, consider that Petrobras projects it will produce more oil than giants Total, Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell and ConocoPhillips by 2013.
Even more impressive, if Petrobras meets its 2020 production targets it will eclipse ExxonMobil, which currently produces around 4.25 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. In that event its total reserves would be between 25 and 30 billion barrels of oil equivalent, also well above Exxon’s reserve base. Given these statistics, it’s not hard to see why there’s so much excitement about Brazil’s deepwater oilfields and Petrobras."

Petrobras Stock Value Surges. Now World's 5th Largest Company!

BLOOMBERG/
Petrobras surpassed China Mobile and China Construction Bank this week to become the world’s fifth-largest company by market value.
Petrobras has surged 60 percent this year, the biggest gain among the world’s 10 largest companies, as oil jumped 73 percent.
"You’ve got a Brazilian effect, an oil effect and on top of that you’ve got the amazing prospect of deepwater discoveries,” said money manager Bill Rudman. “It’s a powerful combination.”
Petrobras market value now surpasses Procter & Gamble, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, BP Oil ,GE , Royal Dutch Shell , JPMorgan Chase, BHP Billiton, Wal-Mart and HSBC, along with China Mobile and China Construction Bank.

Brasil May Allow Workers To Buy Petrobras Shares For Savings Accounts.

BLOOMBERG/
Brasil’s Congress proposes allowing workers to tap a fund known as FGTS to buy NEW Petrobras shares to finance exploration of deepwater offshore oil fields. It would let workers use as much as 100 percent of their individual FGTS accounts.

Petrobras Shares Decline $7 Billion In One Day!

BLOOMBERG.
The combined market capitalization of Petrobras preferred and common shares dropped 13.3 billion reais ($7 billion) to 306.5 billion reais yesterday from 319.8 billion reais on Aug. 28. The company is the world’s fourth-largest oil producer by market value after Exxon Mobil Corp., PetroChina Co. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
“Petrobras fell because nobody knows well what the company’s role will be,” said David Zylberstajn.

Petrobras ADRs Weaken As New Rules Approach And Refinery Costs Soar.

24/7WALLSTREET.COM.

"There is a report of a huge multi-billion injection from the Brazilian government directly into the company, and this is on the heels of a recent refining project in Venezuela seeing a drastic cost increase."

Petrobras Ranks #4 In Largest Companies in Americas.

Brazzilmag.

An inflated stock price based mostly on hype about enormous pre-salt oil fields has raised Petrobras' value.

"According to figures supplied by Economática, Petrobras' market value has gone from US$ 95.84 billion, as of December 31st, 2008, to US$ 173.59 billion, as of August 4.

The company was surpassed only by the American companies ExxonMobil (US$ 344.5 billion), Microsoft (US$ 211.8 billion) and Wal Mart (US$ 196.2 billion).

Last year, Petrobras ranked 17th in the list, which does not include Canadian companies."

Government To Boost Petrobras Stake By 2010.

Reuters.

Petrobras will offer new oil fields for company shares to boost the government's position.

The government now holds some 55 percent of voting shares in Petrobras but controls only 32 percent of the total market capitalization.